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(meteorobs) Leonid Report From Wrightwood, California
From Jeff Schroeder (jrschroe@mail1.jpl.nasadot gov)
Five of us observed the Leonid shower from the Ford Observatory
located 1 mile East of the JPL facility at an elevation of 7,470 ft.
There was variable cloud cover most of the night obscuring about 50% to
60% of the sky but with a persistent clear region in the Southeast and
overhead. Limiting visual magnitudes were +5.5 to +5.7 all night with
a beautiful view of the Zodiacal light when all of the clouds cleared
about one hour before dawn.
We observed from 12:30 am until sunrise on November 17. The most activity was seen
from 1:00 am to 2:30 am, and from 4:15 to 5:15 am. We were sheltering
from a strong cold wind next to the East wall of our building, so only
observed the Eastern half of the sky which had variable drifting clouds
to the North, and a persistent lenticular to the East that blocked the
radiant for a couple of hours. Even with these restrictions, the rate at
the peak times was from 600 to possibly as much as 1000 per hour!! We
counted Leonids only, ignoring the occasional sporadic or Taurid. the
meteors came in clumps and flurries, with as many as one every second
or two for a couple of minutes, and then a lull of several minutes with
only a few seen. Most were very bright with very few fainter than +2 mag
seen. The fireballs seemed to come in pairs, with the brightest two
being within a minute of each other around 4:20 am. They were -10 and
-8 and their ion trains were simultaniously visible for about 15
minutes. The brightest one actually lit the whole Southern sky blue for
an instant! Most of the meteors were from +1 to -2 (Jupiter) in
brightness.
This awesome event was the best meteor shower that I have ever seen in
over 25 years of observing them. Hope my pictures come out!
Jeff Schroeder
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